ATF seeks public's help in finding fireworks

July 02, 2009

Commercial-grade mortar shell fireworks stolen from an abandoned semi-trailer truck in Woodridge last month and still unaccounted for are "extremely dangerous" and "could cause great damage," authorities warned today.

"We just don't know how many are still missing," said Thomas Ahern, a special agent of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The fireworks, each about the size of a softball, are designed to be used "at commercial fireworks displays by professionals," Ahern said.

The truck was found last month in the 8100 block of Lemont Road. Authorities learned of the truck and its cargo when a parent discovered that his teenage son had been taking some of the fireworks from the truck and storing them at his home. Ahern said that no criminal charges have been filed.

The DuPage Sheriff's Hazardous Device Unit disposed of about 10,000 of the fireworks, but more are missing.

"We don't know how much the whole load was," Ahern said. "There were no shipping papers found and the whole case remains under investigation."

Ahern added authorities don't know where the shipment came from and where it was headed.

At a demonstration Wednesday of a new remote control bomb disposal machine, sheriff's personnel displayed a similar type of mortar shell, claiming it could kill a person holding the device and totally destroy a car.

In 2000 a 43-year-old Lombard man was killed in Addison celebrating Independence Day when a commercial-grade aerial mortar shell struck him in the head. In 2007 a Downers Grove-area man was killed when a commercial-grade mortar shell exploded in his face. Both fireworks shells had been illegally obtained.

Ahern said that persons with information about the fireworks should call police.